How much authority does a deacon have? Here we see a deacon, Philip baptize an Ethiopian and afterwards preach the Gospel.
“Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing. But Philip was found at Azotus. And passing through, he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea.” (Acts 8:39-40 NKJV)
I dream of a church where leaders are not stifled by silly lines of competition.
A Damascus Road Experience
As Jesus builds His Church, Christ’s workers will experience much opposition even from religious leaders of other churches. God does not ask His Church to fight, but rely upon Jesus taking care of His flock. One such example is Jesus’ confrontation with Saul the persecutor.
“As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?’” (Acts 9:3-4 NLT)
A sad legacy of church history is Christian persecuting Christian. It has not stopped and still takes place in various countries today. Opposition from non-Christians also continues worldwide, but according to Open Doors World Watch List, it has been the worst of all in places like North Korea, Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya, Pakistan, Eritrea, Yemen, Iran, Nigeria, India, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, and so on. What happened as a result of Jesus confronting Saul?
“Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.” (Acts 9:31 NIV)
This is not guaranteed to always be so, as our greatest hope is not in this life. The Church experienced ten major periods of persecution before the Emperor Constantine gave Christianity official state recognition. I dream of a church where those who are in opposition will have a similar Damascus road experience so that they too can be used mightily by God.
Willing to Listen
To whom should Christians preach the Gospel when Jesus is building a church through them? We often think of a certain target demographic, but the crowd that Jesus chooses will often be quite different from those we would normally associate with. What is a main ingredient among those who God is calling to His Church?
“Now therefore we are all here present in the sight of God to hear all things that have been commanded you by God.” (Acts 10:33b WEB)
A readiness to listen is a key ingredient for many things in the church. Who should be in leadership, those who are not ready to listen, but have their own agendas? No! Who will make good candidates for members of the local church, those who want to turn the church around with worldly agendas? No! I dream of a church where everyone is eager to listen to Jesus and the Apostles.
A Benefit of Persecution
We may think that persecution has no positive benefits, but there is one, people who would have otherwise stayed home, scattered and carried the Gospel with them.
“Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. (Acts 11:19 ESV)
Did the word remain only among Jews?
“Among them were some people from Cyprus and Cyrene. They entered Antioch and began to proclaim the good news about the Lord Jesus also to Gentiles. The Lord’s power was with them, and a large number came to believe and turned to the Lord.” (Acts 11:20-21 CEB)
Like these ancient Christians, we too may have a preferred demographic to reach, but let’s be ready to accept all who are willing to listen into our fellowship, no matter their background. I dream of a church that is willing to leave the comforts of home to spread the most important message on the planet.
